UK Bus News

Abellio London The loss of the 49 has seen 9429-9447/9513-9520 be withdrawn to be returned off lease. The rest of the SN59 batch should follow once the 414 leaves in November. Transfers: 2458 WS > QB LT632-633 TF > QB LT787-788 WL > TF Arriva London The slow conversion of route 349 to LT began this month, with the first DW displaced to Tottenham (AR) at the end of the month, reason being to replace the VLWs at Edmonton (EC) using the 63 reg DWs at Tottenham (AR). Meanwhile the 319s first EAs began entering service, with all of the first 10 in use by the end of the month, this has seen HV138 go to Palmers Green (AD) presumably as a refurb float. Transfers: DW331 DT > DX DW413 E > AR HV138 BN > AD LT1/4/7/193/196-197 CT > E Go Ahead London The WVLs at New Cross (NX) are now slowly being withdrawn, with several already off for conversion to training vehicles. Meanwhile LTs from route 11s PVR cut began making their way over to Camberwell (Q) to help finish off the 176s...

Abellio London Withdrawn E400s 9448-9456 have been sold to The Green Bus, Birmingham. Meanwhile 9506 & 9512 have joined 9505/9507-9511 at Go Coach, Otford. Transfers: 8522 FW > BC 9404 BC > QB 9408 BC > QB 9424 WS > QB Go Ahead London During the latest set of tender results on the 6th August, it saw route 135 lost to Tower Transit (LI). Meanwhile route 153 has transferred from Northumberland Park (NP) garage to Waterloo (RA) garage, this is to make space for the pending W15 gain, as well as balance work due to routes 507 & 521 having PVR reductions, with the 507 getting a -6 and the 521 getting a -17. Transfers: WVL277 AL > BX WVN25 AL > BX Metroline With it being the final month of Alperton (ON) garage (on its current site) the first route moved to its temporary depot on the 28/08, with this being route 487, which has gone to Willesden Junction (WJ) garage. The next route to move will be route 204 to Edgware (EW) on the 04/09. Meanwhile it is now confirmed th...

The Streetdeck vs The Gemini 3 - Which is better? Background on the Gemini 3 : Back in late 2013 the Gemini 3 was born, initially on a Volvo B5TL chassis, there was only 4 ever in London, all of which were demonstrators and were the following: V6 BF63HFE (Demonstrator for Go Ahead) VGD1 BF63HDE (Demonstrator for Arriva) VW1469 BF63HDG (Demonstrator for Metroline) V6 (2) BJ14KTL (Second Demonstrator for Go Ahead) Of these VGD1 & VW1469 remained in London after they finished their spells with Arriva and Metroline and headed off to Go Ahead by summer 2015 where they were renumbered WVL509 & 510. The B5TLs were quickly followed with the B5LH hybrid equivalent, which saw no more B5TLs ordered as London was heading towards a more hybrid based fleet at the time. The first set of B5LHs to arrive was Stagecoach's 13001-13032 for Plumstead (PD) depot for their flagship route 53, this was quickly followed by Metrolines VWH2001-2023 for Perivale [East] garage, where they were destined ...

Abellio London Recently withdrawn E400s 9505/9507-9511 have been sold to Go Coach. This month saw further E400s withdrawn, these being 9448-9453, with 9450 then being sold to The Green Bus. Other buses decommissioned are 8118-8121 & 8138-8141, which are returning off lease with 8118-8121 already sold to Vision Bus of Bolton. On the 27th July Abellio saw themselves become victorious in the latest set of tenders, seeing them win route 111 from RATP Group, this will run from Fulwell (TF) depot with 30 brand new electric DDs from 30th April 2022. Transfers: 2456 WS > QB 2482 BC > QB 8201-8204 GW > BC 8809 WL > TF 9421 WS > QB 9504 BC > QB 9506 BC > QB Go Ahead London The 3rd of July saw the second 2 of the trio of routes transfer from RATP Group to Go Ahead, these being routes 413 & S1. The 413 gained the former route 80 allocation of SEs, which had gained WHVs ousted from the 200 which began its conversion to new Optare Electrics. The S1 on the other hand is u...

Abellio London Transfers of the week: 2462 WS > BC 9428 GW > BC Go Ahead London School extras V108 & V624 are to be withdrawn after this week, last day of them existing being the 18/06/21. Transfers of the week: SE268 A > PL WHV74 AL > A WHV78 AL > A WHV79 AL > A Metroline The number of WHDs on route 7 per day has now seemingly increased from 4 to 6, with only 4 WHDs left to see their first day of service. WHD2709 & 2710 have received hydrogen branding. Transfers of the week: TE1313 G > W RATP Group This week saw the transfer of routes 293, 404, 467 & 470 from Epsom (EB) to Tolworth (TV), leaving just the 413 & S1 at Epsom (EB) for a further 2 weeks before they move to Go Ahead London and the garage closes for good. Transfers of the week: ADE40303/40493-40494 EB > TV ADE40459 HH > RP ADE40482 TV > AV ADH45026 EB > AV DDE20289-20294 EB > TV DE20092/20094 EB > TV DE20192 EB > BT DXE30284-30289 EB > TV SDE20284-20286/20302 EB ...

Abellio London Due to the recent loss of the E1/E9 to RATP & Metroline respectively, E40Hs from the E1 have gone to QB to temporarily work the 414, as a result causing older E400s 9465/9505/9507-9511 to be withdrawn. Similarly the E9s buses, which are 9428/9455-9464 are also withdrawn, although a few have been filling in on rail duties temporarily. Transfers of the week: 9506 QB > BC Go Ahead London Former Metroline OME2652 (Now an Optare demonstrator) has now left Merton (AL) for Go North East.  Transfers of the week: EH84 AF > Q EH85 AF > Q WHV156 Q > AL Metroline As of the start of this week, the V487, V606 & V632 are now subcontracted to Tower Transit (X) and are no longer operated by Metroline. This allowed the transfer of VW1199 & 1839 to Potters Bar (PB) last week. RATP Group Saturday the 12th of June saw route 85 transfer from Tolworth (TV) to Fulwell (FW), in return routes 216 & 411 transferred from Fulwell (FW) to Hounslow Heath (HH), route 419...

Route 302 Introduction to the 302 The 302 is a fairly residential service that for most of the way heads in a straight line from south to north from Kensal Rise to Mill Hill Broadway. It is one of London's "newer" routes having only existed since 1992. Routing The 302 takes the following routing: Kensal Rise Willesden Bus Garage Neasden Shopping Centre Blackbird Hill Kingsbury Green Stag Lane Burnt Oak Station Deansbrook Road Mill Hill Broadway Brief History The 302 was introduced on the 28th March 1992, initially running between Ladbroke Grove and Mill Hill Broadway and was operated from Willesden bus garage using MCW Metrobus. Later in 1992 on the 14/11/92 the route was extended from Ladbroke Grove to Notting Hill Gate. During 1993 the route was demoted from double deck MCW Metrobus' to single deck Dennis Lance/Northern Counties Palatine's, this was reverted in 1995 however when the route converted to double deck operation using MCW Metrobus' once again. On ...